Friday, April 26, 2013

My Grandma had this great cookie jar. It was shaped like a chef. He had a striped shirt and blue pants. He sat on a counter between the kitchen and the back room. I haven't been to that house in many many years, but I can still see it perfectly in my mind's eye.

The best part of the cookie jar was the cookies. She always had cookies. Usually cookies that she had baked. {It only occurred to me as I was writing this post that she probably baked them in anticipation of visiting grandchildren...} We would grab some cookies on our way through the kitchen and go play on the piano in the back room, or maybe go visit her neighbor Jenny (who once had a Christmas party for my Sis and I in the middle of the summer!) or head down the the basement with all the great toys from my Dad's childhood and tons of comic books and the scary cat clock.

After a while, we'd go back for another cookie. You can do that at Grandma's house. My two favorite cookies were sour cream drop cookies and these amazing molasses cookies.

I felt the need to make them the other day. I couldn't find the recipe (!!) but my Sis came to the rescue. She sent me a picture of her recipe card and I was set! Here's how I made them (and they were just as good as the ones in my memory!):

Molasses Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup shortening (butter also works, or a combination)

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

Sift together dry ingredients and set aside. Cream shortening (and/or butter) and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and molasses. {Quick tip for measuring molasses: spray the inside of your measuring cup with cooking spray before you pour in the molasses - it will slide right out!}

Stir in the dry ingredients. Form into walnut-sized balls and roll in sugar. {In order to make mine uniform, I weigh each ball. You don't have to do this. It is a little obsessive.}

Flatten to the desired thickness with the bottom of a glass.

Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.

Perfection! I served these with my Rum Ice Cream and they were the perfect compliment to those flavors.

These cookies bring back memories of sitting at Grandma's table, eating these cookies and drinking cold milk from a brightly colored aluminum cup. They taste like childhood.